Parliament orders referendum on child protection law

The public will be asked the following questions in the plebiscite:

Do you support children in public schools participating in classes demonstrating sexual orientations without parental consent?

Do you support information about gender change treatments being given to children?

Do you support media content of a sexual nature and affecting the development of children being presented to them without any restrictions?

Do you support media content presenting gender change being presented to children?

According to parliament’s resolution, the referendum would cost 5.5 billion forints (EUR 15m) if held simultaneously with a general election, rather than 12.6 billion if held separately.

Under an amendment to the election law proposed by the opposition and passed on Nov. 9, referendums cannot be held 41 days before or after local, national, or European parliamentary elections. They can, however, be linked to such elections on the same day.

Mate Kocsis, the group leader of ruling Fidesz, told reporters after the vote that the aim of the referendum and the child protection law was to give parents the exclusive right to decide how the raise their children.

He criticised the opposition for staying away from both the debate and the parliamentary vote, noting that left-wing parties had “previously launched attacks against the child protection law, both at home and in Brussels.”

President Janos Ader will probably declare the date of the referendum next January, he said.

Answering a question, he said that the referendum could be held under parliament’s approval of an opposition initiative to coincide with the general election which is expected to take place next spring.

Justice minister: ‘We will stop the LGBTQ lobby at the school fence’

Justice Minister Judit Varga on Tuesday welcomed parliament’s decision to order a referendum on child protection, and pledged to “protect the rights of Hungarian children and parents, and stop the LGBTQ lobby at the school fence.” “Only a common will can stop the violent LGBTQ lobby and pressure of Brussels, which is why the Government has initiated a referendum on child protection,” Varga said in a bilingual Facebook post.

Varga said the referendum would contain the following questions:

Do you support the holding of presentations in public education institutions to introduce minors to topics on sexual orientation without the authorization of their parents?

Do you support the promotion of gender reassignment treatments for minors?

Do you support minors being shown, without any restriction, media content of a sexual nature that is capable of influencing their development?

Do you support minors being shown media content that demonstrates gender reassignment?

“We believe that with the support of the Hungarian people, we can go through the thickest wall. The future of our children is at stake, thus we are committed to protecting them,” Varga said.